Snapshot

André Jolivet had a lively interest in all the arts as a child – his mother was a musican, his father an artist * Undertook composition studies with classicist Paul Le Flem and iconoclast Edgard Varése who introduced him to the music of Schoenberg, Berg and Bartók * In 1936 formed the group Jeune France with his friends Olivier Messiaen, Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier, aiming to rehumanise modern music away from abstraction * Early successes include the piano pieces Mana and Cinq Incantations for solo flute * After war combined composition with musical directorship of the Comédie Française (1945-59) * 1950s and 1960s dominated by series of virtuoso concertos * Output ranges from opera and ballet to orchestral and instrumental works * Compositions show particular interest in instruments with a special role in primitive musics, such as flute and percussion